Sharing the same record as the nationally-ranked USC Trojans, Auburn Tigers and Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Buffalo heads west, away from the suddenly friendly confines of UB Stadium, for its first Mid-American Conference showdown of the season against Bowling Green.
Buffalo (1-0) is looking to win back-to-back games for the first time since November of 2001, and is attempting to produce its first 2-0 start since 1983 when the Bulls started the season 3-0.
The task will not be an easy one, as Buffalo faces a Bowling Green (0-1) team that has beaten the Bulls the last two times the teams have met, including an embarrassing 27-7 defeat last year at UB Stadium.
The Falcons have strung together five straight winning seasons and have also been particularly stingy in home openers, as the team has posted victories in their opener in each of the last five years.
In order to be successful this week, Buffalo's offense will have to do a better job of seizing opportunities. Despite 356 yards of total offense last week, the Bulls struggled to put points on the board when given the chance. Three drives stalled in the Temple red zone, leading to only three points, as freshman place kicker Taylor Packwood missed kicks wide left and wide right, from 32 yards and 28 yards, respectively.
The onus falls largely on the shoulders of sophomore quarterback Drew Willy. Although the sophomore passer showed good mobility, Willy completed only 54 percent of his passes and struggled at times in the home opener. Head coach Turner Gill admitted that Willy seemed jittery.
"We all kept our poise and had confidence that we were still going to get the job done, no matter what the circumstances were going to be," Gill said.
Willy will have to be able to finish the drives that he puts together and convert the longer passes that he overthrew several times last Thursday night.
Buffalo will also need a repeat performance from its running attack. Senior running back Jared Patterson and redshirt freshman James Starks combined to give the Bulls a potent ground game that mustered 192 yards in the season opener. Patterson will start the game but Starks will see action against a Falcons defense that gave up 197 yards on the ground last week against Wisconsin.
Starks is no longer a secret to Buffalo fans or to the MAC, and the quarterback turned running back will no doubt find open space harder to come by in his first conference action.
The Bulls defense that held the Temple Owls to 183 yards of total offense last week will be tested once again, but senior linebacker Ramon Guzman is confident in the team's chances.
"We proved we can be an attacking defense," Guzman said. "We had a great goal line stand. We played a complete game on defense and now that the players and the coaches know that, it's going to be a good thing. We're going to go out there and execute the whole game."
The Falcons will try to overcome Guzman with an offense that features a dynamic redshirt freshman quarterback threat of its own.
Freddie Barnes, who started at quarterback last week in place of sophomore starter Anthony Turner, rushed for 159 yards and two scores on 29 carries. Barnes earned MAC East offensive player of the week for the effort. He also connected on 12 of 19 passes for 82 yards.
Turner will be back behind center after a one-game suspension for marijuana possession. However, Barnes will be featured in the Falcons game plan as running back and wide receiver, and may see action as quarterback as well.
"We kind of have a new position for him, called 'the P'," said Bowling Green head coach Gregg Brandon. "It's a personnel group that we have had in the past. We may run some of that, or he (Barnes) can play running back, or be put in the slot and be a receiver. It's like what we evolved into with P.J. Pope a few years ago. He was a great running back for us but it turned out that he was a great receiver too. And we were able to put him into the slot and he could work from there. Freddie is that type of kid, but the whole thing is that he can't get lost. He still has to play quarterback, because he still is our backup quarterback."
Kickoff is slated for 3:00 p.m. on Saturday at Doyt L. Perry Stadium in Bowling Green, Ohio.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
